BOSTON SOCIALIST SCHOOL

BSS provides basic education in socialism, Marxist political economy and philosophy, imperialism, and history of the communist, socialist and people's movements and revolutions, as well as other radical and anti-capitalist thought. The school offers classes on current political movements, skills training and embrace both traditional and popular education. We welcome your ideas for future courses, as well as volunteers to facilitate a course. Please contact us at bostonsocialistunity@gmail.com.

Join award-winning journalist and lifelong social justice advocate Bill Fletcher, Jr., for the launch of his first work of fiction: The Man Who Fell From the Sky, a crime novel. Bill will discuss his novel's exploration of racism and inequality through the eyes of a young journalist of Cape Verdean descent who investigates a murder in a small Cape Cod community in 1970 while covering the anti-Viet Nam War protests and the Black Panthers. Bill will also discuss the unique ways in which a work of fiction can explore and reveal important truths about the human condition, as well as touch the heart and stir a people to take action. A reception and book signing will follow the discussion.

Please note: encuentro5 is NOT wheelchair accessible. This is unacceptable, but, until e5 able to afford a long-term lease, it will be unable to ensure accessibility. While we are making progress, it is still too inadequate for us to project when we will be accessible.

If you are unable to attend an event, please consider remote participation via phone or online:

encuentro5 (e5), DigBoston, Agaric Design, and Boston Socialist Unity Projectinvite your participation in an important discussion on Technology and Revolution. The event is part of a series of discussions being held nationwide and coordinated by May First/People Link and the Center for Media Justice—leading up to an international convergence in Mexico City later this year.

Notable participants include: Alfredo Lopez, author, Puerto Rican independista, and co-director of May First/People Link; and Rajesh Kasturirangan, mathematician, cognitive scientist, and professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in India.

Over the last few decades, technological advances have not only radically changed methods of human communication but have also started to change humanity itself in ways that grassroots organizations on the political left have been slow to address. To the extent we have done so, it has been mostly to advocate for disenfranchised communities’ access to computers and broadband internet service.

But we have largely failed to grapple with issues beyond the rise of the internet and huge corporate social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. And we’ve barely scratched the surface of those key changes, let alone put much thought into analyzing the effects of newer technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, and genetic engineering on our communities. This is all the more alarming because rapid technological has aggravated the inequalities about which the left has traditionally cared.

Nonetheless, social-change movements continuously emerge, often in unexpected spaces, but especially in artistic and youth spaces or from insurgent social movements of the oppressed and exploited. They create campaigns to challenge potentially negative technological developments and propose more helpful community-centered technologies in their place.

In the interest of promoting these movements and their just agendas, this gathering will convene organizers for an afternoon of sharing and thinking together. We will be sharing information and analyses about these topics in short, plain-spoken, manageable conversations. Our thinking together will be strategic, asking and answering straightforward questions:

What are the most urgent and important challenges connected with technology?

What are the key areas for intervention?

Who are our allies?

What are our resources?

Before we can talk about joint and/or coordinated campaigns and targeting, what do we need?

Please let us know if your organization will be able to attend - please contact us at info@encuentro5.org

Co-sponsored by the Boston Socialist Unity Project.

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The Russian Revolution and the Black Liberation Movement

The Russian Revolution was one of the most important events in modern history and a great victory for socialists, communists and the Left. The October Revolution had great impact and on the black liberation movement in the US, which is closely intertwined with the working class struggle. There will be ample time for discussion of these issues and the 100th anniversary of the revolution.​Edward Carson, Chair, Communist Party USA-BostonNino Brown, Party for Socialism and LiberationJohanna Fernández, Baruch College (CUNY)Mark Solomon, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and SocialismA panelist to be named from Socialism and Democracy Journal

Join activists from Crytoparty Boston (https://www.cryptoparty.in/boston) for a hands-on workshop to learn about encryption tools and how we can protect our privacy against the surveillance state and other intrusive forces. We’ll “hang out" with computers and try to get rid of the fear that the panopticon (the "all-seeing eye" of the state) wants us to live under. Bring your questions, laptops, phones and devices and together we will help set you up with various tools to encrypt your communication an be anonymous on the internet. Topics we can cover: PGP email encryption, Tor browser, Tails, secure text messaging/ chats/ video calls, key signing, mesh networking, how to install linux onto your computer... and more!

We’ll have refreshments at 6:30PM. Bring yourself + a friend and questions about "what do I download?" and "what's a public key?" Join us, learn stuff, and next time, you can be a "crypto angel" by teaching a new person something too.

This historical inquiry aims to illuminate prospects, problems, successes and failures on the part of socialist and left movements in advancing Black Liberation and advancing Black-white unity. Hopefully, the course will inspire broader and deeper investigations into the history of other left parties and organizations in the battle for racial justice and liberation.